Chapter 7

Walker

I awoke to a scream.

"What the hell? Where am I?" I shouted.

It took a moment to get my bearings straight. I was on the beach. We were on a stranded island. Lindsey.

I jumped up and ran to the shelter I"d built for her and the kids, relieved to find she was okay and soothing Dante, who appeared to have had a bad dream or something.

"Okay, calm down and tell me what you saw," she said calmly to him.

He looked up at me with fear in his eyes. "You," he said pointing up to me. "They"re after you. They"re coming with guns, and they"re going to shoot us for taking you, and then they"re going to take you away."

"That"s not going to happen, buddy. I promise you."

"I"ve seen it, Walker. My visions always come true."

"We need to leave, now," Lindsey said.

"We should leave him behind," Dante said. "It"s the only way."

She looked pained as her head bobbed back and forth between me and the kids.

"I can"t," she whispered just before she walked away from the shelter and shifted, shredding my shirt in the process.

I grabbed up the rest of my clothes and quickly dressed back in my suit. It was clear she was flying us out of here, and I knew the air up there was cool.

"Are you two going to be okay?" I asked.

"We"ll be fine," Maya assured me.

"Better if you stayed behind," Dante muttered.

Lindsey growled at him as she lowered herself in the sand for the kids to climb on top of her. I started to follow them but she shook her head and snapped at me.

Once again I found myself in the clutches of her claws, dangling in the air as we took flight.

Day turned to night and still she flew. I was starting to worry about her but there was land up ahead. I could see the shoreline clearly by the lights. She flew over a city. Was that New Orleans?

We landed somewhere in the bayou. I was certain of it. A large Greek Revival home loomed in the dark.

Lindsey shifted once the kids climbed down, and I was dropped to the ground. She stared up at the house with a pained look on her face.

I wanted to reach out and comfort her, but I wasn"t sure how it would be received.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "Come on."

The steps creaked under our weight as we walked up the front steps. Inside, dust and cobwebs were everywhere. The furniture had been carefully covered with sheets. It was hard to tell how long the place had been abandoned, but I"d guess it had been years.

"What is this place?" Maya asked.

"My home," Lindsey said.

"It"s kind of dirty and smells weird," Dante said, clearly not impressed.

I hid my smile and tried not to chuckle. He wasn"t wrong, but it was nothing a good cleaning wouldn"t fix.

"I"m tired," Maya whined.

"We"ll make do tonight and clean this place up tomorrow, okay?" Lindsey said trying to stay optimistic.

"Okay," the kids conceded.

She led them up the stairs to the second story and tucked them into beds. I waited outside in the hallway, not wanting to make assumptions. If Lindsey needed a warm body to snuggle against, I was here for it.

I started to grow hard just thinking about it. The only time we"d had alone since meeting was when I briefly checked on her when she passed out on the beach. I was very much looking forward to spending time with her and getting to know my mate. I was still a little uneasy about the beast, but I was already starting to grow used to it. I had to believe that if this was the woman I was meant to spend my life with, then everything would work out somehow.

She came back out and frowned when she saw me like she had forgotten I was there.

Pain shot through my chest, and my wolf growled angrily.

"Where are we sleeping?" I asked her, smiling wide enough that I knew my dimples were popping. No woman had ever been able to resist my dimples, and I damn well knew it.

"I"m sleeping here," she said pointing to the door across from the kids. "In my room. Whereas you can stay up there." She escorted me to the other end of the house and then up a hidden staircase that no doubt led to old servants' quarters.

My jaw dropped and I looked at her like she was crazy. Her arms crossed over her chest and she glared at me.

"I should have just left you on the island. I"m not even sure why I brought you with us."

"Yes you do," I told her. And I knew she knew exactly what I was talking about. She felt it too. I could see it in her eyes.

She growled under her breath.

"You"ll sleep up there and you"ll stay up there unless one of the kids or I tell you to come down. Am I clear? If Dante was right and people are coming for you, then I want you as far away from us in this house as possible."

My jaw went slack, and then I closed it with a scowl.

"You"re serious?"

"I am."

She stifled a yawn, and I caved. It had been a long day and my mate needed sleep. I"d let her banish me for the night, but tomorrow would be another day and we were going to have a serious conversation about these arrangements.

"Goodnight, Lindsey," I said sweetly and then turned and marched upstairs before she could react.

When I hit the third level, the air was even mustier and a lot colder. A shiver ran through me, but my wolf perked up and warmed me quickly. Luckily we were in perfect sync except when it came to our mate. My wolf side wanted me to storm her room and bond with her this instant, but my practical human side knew that wasn"t going to go over well right now.

I picked the first room I came to. When I pulled off the sheet covering the already made bed, dust flew everywhere, making me sneeze.

It was late, and I was too tired to explore the area. Instead, I crawled into the bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. It didn"t take long before sleep consumed me.

*****

The next morning, I awoke with the sun. She"d told me not to leave the third floor, but I wasn"t about to listen to that. Instead, I walked downstairs and found the house quiet. The back stairs led me straight into the kitchen. Everything was covered in dust in there too.

Knowing the kids would be hungry, I immediately started cleaning. It mostly just needed a thorough wipe down. The fridge and freezer were empty, but the pantry still had food. I checked the expiration dates and was surprised to see a few things hadn"t expired yet.

Baked beans and popcorn weren"t high on breakfast expectations, but it would at least fill the belly until we could get to a store.

I was just finishing up cleaning the kitchen when Dante stumbled in.

"What"s the smell? Is that popcorn?"

I shrugged. "It"s what I could find. There"s some baked beans too."

"Gross," he said as he filled the plate I set out for him and started devouring the food like he hadn"t eaten in a week.

Maya wandered in next. I stayed quiet while Dante dished her out some breakfast.

"Popcorn for breakfast?" She giggled.

"What is going on in here?" Lindsey asked, her voice booming through the large room.

The kids jumped, looking guilty.

"Walker made us breakfast," Dante ratted me out.

"I thought I told you to stay upstairs. I don"t want to see you down here."

I wanted to tell her tough luck and stay downstairs but the way she was trying to protect the kids from me pissed me off. So, without a word, I turned and stomped back upstairs.

I spent the rest of the morning exploring the upper floor that I had been condemned to. I couldn"t stand all the dust, so I found some old cleaning supplies and got to work cleaning all the rooms. There were ten small bedrooms and a parlor or gathering place of some sort. I also found two additional stairwells, both hidden behind doors leading to the two floors below.

I couldn"t help but think how big and magnificent the place had once been. And there were signs that people had lived here within the last five years. Where did they go? Who were they?

If this was Lindsey"s family home, what happen to them all?

My mind was filled with a million questions.

As my stomach was starting to rumble, I looked out to find the sun was high in the sky. I knew I was going to have to make my way back to the kitchen whether she liked it or not. Before that though, I heard footsteps running toward me.

"Walker?"

I peeked my head out of the room I was working on to see Maya.

"There you are. Wow, it looks and smells much nicer up here. Maybe Dante and I could move up here with you. I don"t like all the dust in our room."

"How about I help you two fix that?"

"Please. That would be great. Lindsey just left to go to the store. She seemed nervous about it, but Dante was whining about being hungry. Our last Collector was nice and served us three meals and two snacks every single day."

"Don't worry. Lindsey and I will make sure you get plenty to eat."

She perked up and nodded.

"You could come downstairs now. At least while she"s gone."

I hated that she had banished me to the servants' quarters, but I also knew there was nothing I wouldn"t do for that woman. If this was what she needed for now, then okay.

I hadn"t exactly wanted a mate, but I knew I"d always been watching out for her. A part of me was more than ready to settle down with a family of my own. As I looked down at Maya and thought of Dante, it made me smile. Perhaps I already had the family of my dreams right here.

One thing was for sure. I wasn"t going to fight this bond. I wasn"t exactly sure how it would work. A beast and a wolf. Who ever heard of such a thing? Her beast would take some getting used to, but it didn"t seem to want to harm me in any way. And I certainly had no issues with the beautiful woman she was in her human form. I wouldn"t go so far as to say I didn"t have concerns, but I was trying hard to keep an open mind about it all.

"Come on. Let"s get to work before she gets back," I said, pushing all those thoughts aside.

Maya slipped her hand into mine and led the way.

Dante soon joined us.

"You"re going to get us in trouble," he said when he saw me on the second floor.

"You should see what he did upstairs. It"s all clean and smells good. He"s going to help do our room next."

"I expect help," I said, handing him a feather duster and Maya a damp rag.

The kids turned out to be great helpers, and in no time at all, we had their room, the bathrooms, and the hallway on that floor cleaned.

I couldn"t help but notice how all the bathroom mirrors had been smashed. And as I walked through the house, the large claw marks on the walls, pictures, and some furniture didn"t go unnoticed either.

I stopped at the door Lindsey had gone in last night and hesitated.

"We shouldn"t touch her room. She won"t like it," Dante warned.

"Of course she will. Let"s surprise her."

Something told me Dante was right, but I listened to Maya instead.

Nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming scent of her here. Or the destruction of the room. There was one painting of a red rose hanging above her bed that was unscathed. Everything else in the room looked as though it had been the victim of a fight.

The large poster bed showed splintered wood. The other pictures and art in the room were destroyed. And large claw marks ran down part of the wall.

The kids didn"t seem to be bothered by the sight, so I tried to ignore it too. The three of us had just enough time to finish her room as best as we could before a knock sounded at the front door.

We all froze.

"Lindsey would only knock if she needed help," Maya said.

"I don"t think it"s her. I have a bad feeling about this," Dante said.

"It"s going to be fine. You two stay up here and I"ll go down and check it out."

"Walker, no," he begged, grabbing hold of my arm to stop me.

The pounding grew louder.

When I didn"t move fast enough, the front door opened, and I could hear more than one set of footsteps enter the house.

A low growl rumbled through me.

"Hide," I told the kids as I crept out into the hallway and down to the opening to peer over into the foyer.

There were at least six large men, all with jet black hair, standing there.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" a voice yelled out.

"Stop being an idiot Bas, if someone"s squatting here, they aren"t going to just show themselves."

"Did you call Leo already?"

"No. There"s no sense in pissing off the wolves if it"s nothing."

I knew that voice, but I couldn"t quite place it.

They spread out and began to search the first floor.

"Popcorn!" one of them yelled. "And the kitchen"s clean. Someone"s definitely been here."

I could feel her presence when my mate returned.

There was a thunk at the front door as she dropped the bags of groceries she was carrying and then a menacing growl. I even knew the exact moment she shifted.

Screams filled the air as she stalked toward the intruders in her beastly form.

"What the hell is that?"

"It"s an Experiment! Get out of here now."

"She"s stalking us."

"That"s not possible."

I didn"t know what they meant by that wasn"t possible. But all color drained from my face and I felt like I was going to puke hearing them call her an Experiment. It wasn"t that I hadn"t suspected as much, but hearing it made it somehow all the more real.

There were some more screams, and I truly hoped she didn"t kill any of them as they ran from the house.

Things got eerily quiet, and then Lindsey walked upstairs completely naked like nothing had happened.

She glared at me, but there wasn"t any malice behind it. Instead, she looked worried.

"The kids are okay," I assured her.

She nodded and quietly said, "Thanks."

"Do you know who those men were?"

She nodded. "They"ll alert the Alpha. Others could come. This is Pack territory."

"Which Pack, Lindsey?"

"NOLA."

I nodded. I"d suspected as much. The NOLA Alpha wasn"t much of a team player. He did things his way and maintained a lot of the old-school traditions.

"Are you a NOLA wolf?"

"I was."

"What happened to you?" I already knew enough, but I needed to hear it from her.

"That"s none of your business. You wouldn"t understand."

She started to walk away, but I grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Please."

"I"m not talking about it, Walker."

The venom in her tone stopped me from pushing any further.

Maya and Dante ran out of their room and hugged her.

Was it bad that I was jealous of a couple kids?

I wanted desperately to pull my mate into my arms and hold her, but something told me that wasn"t going to go over very well.